"No."
Hearing this, Ifrit quickly shook her head and answered.
"..."
Saria squinted her eyes gently as she watched Ifrit shaking his head like a rattle. For some reason, she always felt that the person in front of her was a little guilty.
However, considering Ifrit's current state, Saria didn't say anything and simply reached out to rub her head again.
After all, compared to asking a child in poor condition, Saria preferred to investigate on her own. Even if she had a lot to do and was in a hurry, her approach remained the same.
"Hmm!"
Noticing Saria's complicated mood, Ifrit snorted and rubbed her hand.
Although she couldn't share the story due to her agreement with Snake, she could still accompany Saria, who was in a bad mood, and comfort her in her own way.
...
While the two were getting along warmly, everyone else in the laboratory was busy. Especially Silence, who was more eager than others to determine what this substance suddenly appearing in Ifrit's body was and whether it would be harmful to her.
However, even the current head of the structural Section, Ahrens Parvis, couldn't identify the substance right away.
It was precisely because he couldn't figure it out that the research focus of the laboratory shifted to this special substance.
Later, when everyone was busy, it was still Saria who took Ifrit, who had already received this "treatment," back to the room.
Finally, after saying goodbye to Ifrit, who was reluctant to leave, Saria did not leave in a hurry but chose to return to the laboratory.
She felt it was necessary to have a good talk with Ahrens Parvis.
In addition, Saria planned to investigate the surveillance video near the structural Section to confirm whether there were any suspicious or abnormal individuals recently.
If it turned out that the substance in Ifrit's body was artificially injected, no matter the purpose—whether for Ifrit's benefit or otherwise—Saria would not allow such serious violations to continue.
---
"Ah-choo..."
Mobius, who had just finished the experiment and had not even had time to put down the instrument recording the data in her hand, sneezed again.
"..."
The sudden second sneeze made Mobius, who was originally in a good mood because of her preparations, frown slightly. Thinking of a possibility, she slowly put down what she was holding, walked silently to the door of her office, locked it, and disposed of the excess clean water in the office.
Mobius was not superstitious but often trusted her intuition or the intuition of snakes.
After doing these things, she walked back to the experimental table and cleaned it up. At the same time, she murmured thoughtfully.
"According to the time, those guys should have noticed something unusual."
Although Mobius discovered during her investigation that the timing of the lab's treatment for Ifrit was not fixed, she calculated that it was almost time now.
The treatment was nearly complete, and the drugs remaining in Ifrit's body were also found.
Even though Mobius had decided in her heart that she would not leave the lab during the day after meeting Ho'olheyak in the morning, she still had some things to investigate.
No matter how much the Ouroboros wanted to trust Ifrit, the child's uncertainty remained.
Therefore, the later investigation would directly determine whether Mobius should re-examine Ifrit that night.
After all, maybe Saria or Silence had discovered something, so why not wait and see tonight?
Although Mobius had a way to solve the problem even if someone was waiting for her, it would still be too troublesome. It would disrupt her plans and waste her time.
---
On the other side——
"..."
At this moment, Saria's mood could be said to be even worse because the two things she tried before yielded no useful results.
The first was negotiating with the head of the structural Section, Ahrens Parvis, but the final result was completely unsatisfactory...
When Saria pointed out the problem, Ahrens kept playing riddles. In the end, despite her many words, she neither caught the other party's tail clearly nor felt satisfied.
The second was checking the surveillance of the nearest structural Section, or more precisely, the surveillance near this laboratory. Although sometimes the surveillance of each Section is relatively private, Saria, as the Director of the Defense Section, still had some authority.
However, the final result was also unsatisfactory; she did not find any particularly useful information.
At most, there was only one conclusion: if the substance in Ifrit's body was artificially injected, the most likely perpetrator was an acquaintance. After all, the video did not capture any outsiders near the laboratory.
Of course, it's possible that someone may have special Art, but that possibility is relatively small.
Generally, no one would sneak into a large company's laboratory just to inject a painkiller into a child.
And as it was at present, if this special substance was really a painkiller, it was likely original or specially researched.
Who would believe that a stranger would do such an unprofitable, even negative, thing?
"Alas..."
Thinking about it, Saria sighed helplessly and made a new decision.
The results and progress of these two things were not satisfactory in her opinion, but if she had to compare, the latter was still slightly better than the former.
However, since she did not know the staff of the Laboratory or the situation beyond the written information, Saria was unsure.
So she planned to talk to Silence privately later to see if there were any more clues.
Just as Saria was thinking about Ifrit's situation, her communicator suddenly rang.
"Hello."